Our PARTNERSHIP builds on a productive relationship between a minority serving system (Cooper Green Hospital, the Mineral District Medical Society, and Tuskegee University) and a research-intensive medical center, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) to focus on inequities in CVD prevention, care, and outcomes. Our team has the demonstrated ability to take an initial investment and establish a sustained program of scientific productivity and educational outreach. Woven through each interdisciplinary project, bioethical considerations and community partnerships create a cohesive program. RESEARCH AIMS: with a long-term goal of eliminating CVD disparities, (1) investigate associations between adherence to evidence-based guidelines and measures of trust in providers and of perceived discrimination; (2) develop and test an anti-hypertensive intervention based on the DASH diet modified to be culturally appropriate for African-Americans; (3) characterize the bioactive polyphenolic composition of traditional African-American foods, followed by the development, dissemination, and evaluation of dietary education programs built on culturally appropriate translation of results; and (4) develop and test an intervention for tobacco smoking cessation in a low-literacy population, using literacy-appropriate electronic tools, tailored to the user's readiness for change. EDUCATION AIMS: provide emerging disparity researchers with: (1) basic tools of clinical and outcomes research, including biostatistics, epidemiology, psychometrics, behavioral interventions, equity and disparity assessment; and (2) knowledge of fundamental bioethical issues, principles, attitudes, and practices underlying equitable research with culturally diverse and underserved populations. Set in the DEEP SOUTH, we will move forward with disparity-reducing research, training a cadre of new disparity researchers, and building our model of translating research through community empowerment and Community Health Advisors.